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Xanian Empire
The Xanian Empire (Xanian: Tâzeno Xâkömâro), better known as Xâkömâr to the subjects of the empire, is a multi-galactic political entity centered around the home galaxy of the Xanians, who established their empire more than fifteen million years ago. Consisting of more than one and a half billion worlds, governed by tens of thousands of households and the countless quadrillions of members within each, the Xanian Empire is a massive beast, which has no equal in the known universe, and continues alone as the single largest government in existance. Serving as one of the three unifiying pillars of Xanian civilization, the empire keeps the Xanian people politically united under a single central authority figure, keeping the peace and enforcing the laws of the Tâzen throughout its dominions. However, each of the xâruks who governs a household within the empire, serves as the local leaders in the many realms the empire controls. Because of the many egos and grudges these powerful men have and hold against one another, the empire also serves as the peacekeeper in keeping the warfare within its space from harming the nation as a whole. History Origins and formation The need for the Xanian Empire arose many centuries after the Xanians acquired FTL capabilities some ten thousand years into their recorded history. Long throughout the history of the Xanian people, the great houses of their society waged wars of proportion which dwarfed that of many thousands of other species. Occupying a giant super-earth of a homeworld, filled from one horizon to the other with land and resources of all kinds, the Xanians occupied a rich planet, which though massive in size, was nowhere near large enough to support the billions and billions of Xanians born each and every year to the patriarchal rulers known as the xâruks–male Xanians to whom all Xanians were conceived and descended. Fighting for the very land and resources needed to feed the many thousands of sons as well as their many tens of millions of more daughters, xâruks fought with the goal of securing the safety of their childrens' future, as well as to secure their own influence and prestige. Conflicts between houses would rage on for decades until either one house was destroyed or both sides tired of fighting and agreed to a truce. Such truces rarely lasted for more than a decade, but lasted long enough for both houses to rebuild and rearm, and resume hostilities. Often, the house that rearmed itself first would be the one to re-engage in hostilities, and win the war if the other house was not quick enough to fight back or deter an invasion to begin with. Regardless, the Xanians were a violent species who's massive families waged endless wars against one another because of overpopulation. This came to a brief end when members of House Xâra developed the void drive, which freed the Xanians of their cradle, and would propel them into space. Developed in utmost secrecy, the sons and daughters of House Xâra moved to build many large colony ships to get them into space and onto other planets. They succeeded when the colonized the world of Xâra, named after their house as to signify their success. It wasn't long until void drive technology fell into the hands of other Xanian households at the behest of House Xâra's priesthood, passing on the will of the Xanian god, Xanus, who demanded such technology be given to the other Xanians to preserve the species as a whole. It was then that a massive exodus began, pushing hundreds of millions of Xanians away from their overpopulated homeworld, and into the vast reaches of space. However, the Xanians, as Xanus made them to be, did not change as a species, meaning that when they moved into space and the planets beyond their homeworld, they brought their predatory nature with them. As such, war soon befell the Xanian species, with now larger armies and navies moving against one another in a violent cycle of life and death. It was hoped by the Xanians that conflict would still continue to sate their predatory ways, but not to such an extent that it would harm the species as a whole. To rectify this, the leaders of Xania's three largest households, House Xâra, House Kora, and House Deja, came together with the plan of unifying the Xanian species under one banner, so as to regulate the species' actions, and prevent the conflicts from growing beyond the houses' abilities to contain them. Therefore, two and half thousand years after achieving spaceflight, the Xanian Empire was established by the three largest households who, with House Xâra in the lead, were determined to bring others into the fold for the sake of the race's survival as a growing species. Growth and civil war Following the empire's formation, many smaller houses came to regard the empire as a god-send, which as it would later be discovered, turned out to be the case. With Xanus' assistance, the empire grew exponentially over the next five thousand years, bringing into hundreds of small houses who represented two thirds of the Xanian civilization. However, many of the larger houses refused to join, view the empire as an attempt by the Xâras, Koras, Dejas to muscle their way into their internal affairs. Thus, these houses formed a military alliance with the aim of not only defending themselves against the growing confederacy of households led by House Xâra, but to dismantle the so-called "empire" altogether. Such a goal was highly agreed upon, as no xâruk wished to give up his independence, and thus saw a war against the empire as both inevitable and vital to their survival as independent leaders. As it would soon turn out, an alliance going against the will of Xanus would always be doomed to fail, and such would be the case with regards to the aptly-named Axis of Rejectors, who would fight against and fall too the Xanian Empire. Known by modern historians as the Xanian Civil War, the ancient conflict was the largest of its kind between two Xanian powers. On the one side was the Xanian Empire, lead by House Xâra with the backing of Xanus, while on the other was the Axis of Rejectors, who lacked the backing of their god and creator, and were determined to maintain their independence from the imperials. Waged for more than three thousand years, and killing trillions of Xanians, the civil war was the bloodiest in Xanian history. In that short period of warfare, by Xanian standards that is, more Xanians were killed by their fellow Xanians than at any other time in their race's history, wiping out houses, destroying planets, and deleting entire solar systems from existence using weapons never before seens in Xanian history. Yet, despite all of this violence, at no point did the rejectors see any need to end the war, despite the repeated calls of the priesthoods of the rejector houses. For the nobility, it was a war of survival that they could not lose, and even if it mean defeat and extinction, it was a war worth fighting to the death over. Normally in other species, such a fatalistic viewpoint in a one-sided conflict by the government of the race would not be shared by the average citizenry, who often prefer peace to war. However, with the Xanians, war was not only desired by the children of the xâruks, but preferred to peace, as it opened up a war for the animalistic desires of the people to be fully endulged in. Rape and murder became the natural order of things in the conflict, and at no point did Xanus ever step in to stop the bloodshed. A violent stalemate was maintained by both the empire and the rejectors, and remained so throughout much of the conflict. So as to prevent Xanus from having a reason to step in, the priest castes of the Xanians houses were spared from all violence in the war, as they were considered the direct responsibility of Xanus, who would naturally become "unhappy" with any harm directed against his most devout servants. However, such as stalemate could not last forever, even for the Xanians. With little patience left and too many lives lost at last, Xanus finally stepped in put a permanent end to the fighting. Causing the leaders and sons of the Axis to become infertile, Xanus removed the ability of the Axis households to reproduce, making the once limitless number of troops they were able to field in battle, become a precious commodity they could not afford to lose. As time passed, the war took its toll as one household after another surrendered to the combined forces of the empire, which was on a winning streak after destroying the largest household of rejector coalition, House Ekâra. The destruction of House Ekâra would spell the ultimate end of the rejector war effort, as the Ekâras provided the bulk of all the war goods needed to fight the empire. An unexpected side-effect of the house's destruction was the formation of the Houseless. Typically, the destruction of a house meant its defeat and absorption into the victor household, or its complete destruction altogether. However, the houseless had many worlds to flee too, and would become a long-term problem for the empire as a whole, with the Ekâras forming the core of the new class of Xanians. Post-war reconstruction In the eyes of many Xanians, the cause of the war came from the inability of the rejector households to acknowledge such authority to found such an organization like the Xanian Empire, came from Xanus himself and his desire to preserve the species' survival as a whole. Thus, to combat future misunderstandings, and to guide the empire with the explicit backing of Xanus, the role of Tâzen was established to serve as the emperor for the new empire. For its role in helping to unite the Xanian species under one political authority, the xâruk of House Xâra, Xân'Xâ'Mikâl, was given the title of tâzen, and installed by Xanus as the new leader of the Xanian Empire. Having remained determined to bring all Xanians under Xanus' new physical empire, Xân'Xâ'Mikâl was directly responsible for not only forming the empire as a political entity, but for also preserving and expanding it before, during, and after the civil war, bringing Xanus' attention to the faithful xâruk. Understanding the other reasons the civil war began, lead Tâzen Xân'Tâ'Mikâl (the rank of "Tâ" now used exclusively by the tâzen) to acknowledge the right of the xâruks to govern their houses as they see fit with little interference from the Tâzen, but to acknowledge his authority over them and his role as Xanus' physical representative. By recognizing the rights of the xâruks, Tâzen Mikâl had finally solidified the empire under the direction of Xanus. Focusing his new powers elsewhere, Mikâl sought to rebuild the empire's infrastructure, which following the gruesome civil war, was in a pitiful state of disrepair. This was hampered by the fact that the empire now spanned more than a hundred thousand worlds and a hungry population of more than fifty trillion subjects. To accomplish this monolithic task, Mikâl organized Xanian society to adapt to the task ahead of it. Building upon the caste system already in use by the species, the Tâzen introduced the concept of work credits, overseers, and quotas, so as to motivate and reward Xanians who worked hard to achieve set reconstruction goals, and punish those who refused or hampered efforts to do so. In such a reformation, reconstruction was to successfully rebuild most of the empire's infrastructure, and replace what had been violently lost during the conflict. Such efforts would not be the only plans implemented by the Tâzen. Desire for warfare had kept the war going for far longer than was necessary, promoting needless bloodshed that could have ended long ago. However, such desires were natural for the Xanians, especially the females of the species, and could not simply be locked away by legislative means. To answer this problem, Tâzen Mikâl did not outlaw the use of warfare between houses, and even declared the formation of war worlds where grievances could be answered through controlled warfare. To prevent a wider war across the empire from forming, and to serve as a peacekeeper in the event a war between houses expanded away from the controlled environments of the war worlds, Mikâl created the Xâutâkar, or Obsidian Guard, selected from the most elite warriors from all houses, and answering directly to him. The Xâutâkar would serve diligently, preventing a war such as the civil war from erupting again. For his many groundbreaking contributions, Tâzen Mikâl would be forever remembered as the greatest ruler in Xanian history, and declared the first and only saint of Xanus. Conquest of the known galaxy Inter-galactic expansion Government Military Main article: Xâutâkar The need for a military force which answered directly to the Tâzen, rather than one of the many squabbling xâruks of the empire, resulted in the formation of a military unaffiliated to any of the xâruks of Xania. Known as the Xâutâkar, or the "Forces of God", these warriors are selected from each of the individual vâkoran warriors who serve the many households of Xania. Being selected to serve the empire as a whole rather than a singular household is regarded as a great honor by the vâkoran, as it means fighting for something greater than themselves or their fathers. Belonging to no household, the loyalty of the Xâutâkar is supreme, and it belongs only to their god and the man who represents his will, the Tâzen. The Xâutâkar's primary responsibility is to step into conflicts between houses that threaten the empire as a whole, and punish those would dare rise against the sanctioned rule of the Tâzen. In this capacity, the Xâutâkar is regarded as the preserver of the empire and the Xanian people as a whole, as it not only fights selflessly on behalf of all houses, but also remains aloof of the petty arguments of the xâruks, regardless of whether or not many of its warriors once belonged to one of the arguing houses. Unmatched in terms of training, experience, and technology, the Xâutâkar is the premier fighting force of Xania. Boasting the best of the best in all categories, it falls upon the Xâutâkar first and foremost to protect the Xanian Empire from enemies both within and without, with little regard for their own security. Indeed, it is the duty of every member to put the needs of their fellow Xanians above their own, as it is their job to keep their people safe. Though not fatalistic, the Xâutâkar understands the gravity of its position, and the importance of the role it must play if it wishes to keep the Xanians safe and secure as a species. Having unfettered access to any of the resources it needs, the Xâutâkar consists of hundreds of trillions of warriors, and countless billions of warships, all prepared to fight and die in the name of the empire. The military, like those of the households it protects, is lead by a Supreme Warmaster, or Tâ'Xadâk, who directs all military-related manners in the name of the Tâzen. Highly respected and often the most senior and seasoned warrior of the Xanian people, the Tâ'Xadâk is responsible first of all warriors, for maintaining the internal integrity of the empire. If anything should go wrong, the blame would fall squarely on the broad shoulders of the Tâ'Xadâk. However, to somewhat mitigate the weighty duties of the Tâ'Xadâk, there are six other military leaders, known as Chief Warmasters, or Xâ'Xadâks, who govern the actions of the Xâutâkar in each of the six satellite galaxies under their protection. Numerous warmasters (xadâks) handle military affairs in each subsequent division of the galaxy they are assigned too on behalf of their commanding xâ'xadâk. Economy The Xanian economy is highly centralized, with all economic development governed by the noble caste and executed by the merchant caste, though the merchants typically operate with little interference from the imperial government. Efficiency and productivity are valued above all else in the empire, and so long as the economy runs smoothly and at peak capacity, then it matters not to the nobility how the mercantile castes goes about its business. Everything from manufacturing, agricultural, mining, and trade is managed by the merchant caste directly, tasked with not only managing the economic organs of the empire, but also transporting and distributing the products across the empire to all of its subjects as well. Because members of the merchant caste are born and not made for the sake of supporting the empire's monolithic economy, it is regarded as a merchant's duty to serve the empire. Likewise, since all Xanians are born into their positions and contribute to the Xanian Empire in their own ways, the Xanians view the economy as a means to an end; to provide the essential and later secondary needs for their people, effectively making the acquisition of wealth for individual gain an alien concept to the Xanian species. Goods and services The empire is a largely moneyless society, with Xanians allotted allowances in the form of electronic credits, which can be spent on tertiary goods and services for personal enjoyment. The Xanians understand the need for rest and relaxation, as well as entertainment as a source of refreshment. Therefore, all Xanians, including nobles with the exception of xâruks, âureks, and the Tâzen himself, are given allowances to acquire goods and services that are not covered by their rations and essential needs. Records are kept for every one of the many transactions made by individual Xanian subjects, so as to monitor what goods and services are the most popular and what needs to be adjusted or cut altogether to save on resources. It also serves to see how a Xanian is developing in their area, and what socioeconomic profile they fit into, so as to make the best use of their skills and abilities. Naturally, in such a community-centric society as that of the Xanians, all goods produced by the Xanians belong to the government, and any work credits granted to individual subjects may be redistributed by the nobility at will. As such, all unused work credits are returned to the government, who redistributes them at the next pay cycle. Work credits are distributed on a monthly basis, with the amount given tied to their caste and work grade. Those with a high caste grade recieve a larger credit allowance, while those with a lower caste grade are given a smaller amount. Within each caste's array of sub-castes, the allowance given can vary greatly based on the role a Xanian has within that sub-caste, and the sub-caste's importance in the caste as a whole. For example, though higher in the caste hierarchy of the Xanians, a pilot may not recieve the same amount of work credits as a warrior within the same caste, though a pilot would recieve more relative to a rating aboard a voidship. Likewise, a lowly priest may recieve more than a mid-ranking scientist. Regardless, a Xanian's pay grade may determine few other things outside of their credit allowance. All high-ranking caste officials recieve spacious accomedations and the best healthcare, while members lower down the ladder may recieve improved healthcare, transportation, and certain luxury goods, though their residencies may remain the same based on their caste rank alone. So as to organize the caste's members in the most efficent manner possible, each caste is broken down into sub-castes, who break down further into work groups of one kind or another. These groups are known as cadres, and are regarded as the smallest familial unit within the species-wide family of Xanians. These cadres are given work goals which form the bulk of their work efforts, and may consume most of their time in a standard work day. These goals are given based on the worker's skill, age, rank, and experience, as well as the caste to which they belong. For members of the worker caste, work goals could represent a set production quota for that day, while for scientist caste members, it could mean a long-term project their superiors expect to be finished by the end of the work date. Exceeding the quota set for that day brings about many rewards, such as promotion in rank and credit allowance, while consistent failure could result in punishment or banishment into the ranks of the Houseless. Thus, there is much to be gained or loss for meeting or failing to finish the work quota. All Xanians are expected to work regardless of age or rank. From the highest noble to the lowliest worker, all Xanians are workers and serve diligently so as to fulfill their obligations to the empire. The amount of work credits granted to workers comes from a pool which is tied to the size and importance of the quota assigned, meaning that the pool of credits shrikes with the amount of work completed by the end of the day. Workers will only receive a hundred credits of a hundred credits of work performed, meaning that there is a greater incentive to performing at peak capacity to receive a larger, more complete payout. It is not uncommon for cadres to compete against one another to outperform each other to receive promotions and allowance increases, as well as cutting loose as dead weight, such as workers who are under-performing or hampering the ability of the cadre to work effectively. As before, everyone is expected to mean, meaning that children, though the responsibility of their crèche until age three, are assigned to a cadre to begin entrance into their new field of work after leaving the crèche. Because of the "work or starve" mentality of the Xanian Empire, work conditions of the Xanians are rather harsh compared to that of other species. All cadres are assigned an overseer who remains with the cadre for life or until reassignment, serving as the head of the cadre and the man, or sometimes woman, responsible for the cadre's performance. As a result, the high mortality rate in Xanian society is often related to work accidents outside of warfare. Though guaranteed healthcare by the government, higher-ranking or high-performing members of society are given superior medical attention compared to those who underperform on a regular basis. Additionally, it also helps to explain the reason the Xanians, who though boasting a remarking biological regeneration system, still call on the services of a dedicated medical system to serve the needs of the population. Work-related injuries too grievous to be healed by the Xanian's own regenerative system may need attention from the imperial hospitals, where performance at work plays a big role in the type of medical treatment given. House trading and finance Though an otherwise moneyless society, trade between houses often calls upon the physical transaction of goods and currency. This is where the Xanian currency known as the akzun comes into play. The akzun is the official currency of the Xanian Empire, serving in a macro-currency role, where trade between houses requires the transfer of money without having to barter or exchange goods of equal value. Though mostly electronic like the work credits used on a smaller scale, akzun do come in physical forms, and are used exclusively by the merchant caste, and sometimes even the noble caste. The akzun originated from the standard weights and measurements used by pre-spaceflight Xanians, but have since transformed into the pan-galactic currency used for the transfer of funds between households. The amount of akzuns immediately available to a household often denotes the financial strength of that house. While a house can easily perform the same functions without the need for an economy, given the manner in which the Xanians operate as a whole, maintaining an economy helps for political and military reasons. For example, in the realm of futures trading on a stock market, a household can buy up all the of equipment or vessels another household might need for an expedition or a colonization effort. By doing this, one household might be able to hamper or even damage another household's prestige or growth, or even provide the needed equipment for a cut of any profits derived from the endeavor, strengthening one house and weakening another. Such financial maneuvering helps in the realm of politics, helping to strengthen a household using a concept that would otherwise not be needed in the Xanian race and its communal-based mode of thinking. Culture Art and literature Despite the rigid social structure and hierarchy maintained throughout all of Xanian society, many xâruks allow for considerable amounts of self-expression and indulgence in the arts. Much of Xanian artistic talent is focused on historical events, religious teachings, and glorification of the house leaders. Paintings of landscapes and street scenes are also very popular with the Xanians as well. As with most societies, the visual arts are the most common form of artistic expression in Xanian society, with each caste boasting caste has its array of artists, singers, and composers, providing each caste's own unique version of what they consider to be art. Each caste brings their own view of art and beauty. Warriors are noted for their poems and simple yet powerful paintings of tranquil settings; scientists create stunning portraits of the stars and the vastness of the universe, while members of the worker caste produce handicrafts which are both simple and elegant, with intricate designs which are more often than not worthy of praise from even the most powerful members of Xanian society. Regarding literary works, nobles, priests, and merchants are prolific writers, publishing books ranging from simple topics such as etiquette, studies of xeno civilizations, and almanacs, to more complex topics regarding trade, economics, war, politics, religious doctrine and teachings, and the social hierarchy of the Xanian Empire. Libraries exist throughout the cities of the Xanians, and they are open to all members of society regardless of caste or rank. The Xanians do not see any reason to censor literature, given the fact that all Xanians are by nature, loyal to their father and because of their extreme emotional attachment to him, both incapable and unwilling to rebel against him. Despite this, the Xanians are still capable of self-expression and criticizing those they believe need it. Many writings highly critical of those in power, bar the xâruk himself, are often topics of scorn by Xanian writers, who have not shied away from speaking on matters of concern to their fellow brothers and sisters. Returning to the topic of the Xanians' strong emotional connection to their fathers, a great deal of their artistic work, from their paintings, to their sculptures, and their literature, often glorifies their fathers, their household, and their ancestors. In fact, much the architectural works of the Xanian people is based upon the masculine traits of strength, endurance, and simplicity in action, as well as scenes from their hatchling period. In the world of dance and music, the Xanians have a healthy respect for both, large, almost perfectly synchronized dancers, singers, and musicians working harmony during performances. Hundreds and even thousands of Xanians work together to perform a dance or musical symphony that is often unparalleled in terms of their size and harmony. Such choral events attracted large audiences throughout the empire, sometimes even bringing members of different houses together for the sake of partaking in said events. Media Religion Sports Astrography Over the last fifteen million years of Xanian growth and expansion as a space-faring species, the Xanians have conquered or colonized a total of 1,512,738,042 worlds in twenty-three galaxies located in the Andromeda galactic subgroup, or about half of the Local Group. Being a highly orderly species which gives much attention to detail with regards to information, the Xanian Empire maintains a complete list of every world every discovered, colonized, and conquered by the empire. Such is the level of recording performed regarding the astrography of the empire, that no star system will ever be forgotten by the Xanians' rigid record-keeping system. Despite the fact that the Xanians control more a billion and a half worlds in their empire, many planets have yet to be colonized. Indeed, despite having inhabited the Andromeda Galaxy for more than fifteen million years, the Xanians suspect that they have only colonized but a mere fifth of the potentially habitable worlds in the galaxy. It should be noted, however, that the Xanians have completely mapped out all the stars within the galaxy, but have not yet explored and colonized them all, though a vast undertaking to achieve this has been well underway for some millennia now. In the galaxies beyond the Xanian home galaxy, the Xanians continue to colonize new worlds taken from civilizations wiped out by the combined forces of the Xâutâkar and the vâkorânī forces of the individual households of Xania. The need for such expansion by the Xanians is directly linked to the woefully ever-present reality of the Xanian species. More Xanians are born than can possibly be held by any one galaxy naturally. Though population control could easily be achieved by the empire, the infighting between the thousands of houses over space, power, and influence necessitates the need for a readily available source of manpower to fuel the forever-burning warfare within the empire. As a result, when worlds under Xanian control reach critical mass, thousands of colony ships are sent abroad to colonize new worlds, which combined with the impossibly rapid reproductive rate of the Xanians, results in the newly colonized worlds reach critical mass themselves within but a few generations–generations which are measured in years rather than decades. This rapid population growth combined with the need for new worlds to support it, has indirectly created a new imperial policy that demands the empire continue to grow at the expensive of much smaller species, to accomodate the vastly larger Xanian race. When factoring in the added fact that the Xanians are biologically immortal, and therefore lack the natural death rate that serves to contain population expansion in other species, the need for territory growth becomes even more pressing to Xanian politics and thinking. As aforementioned, many of the galaxies controlled by the Xanians have yet to be entirely colonized, though they are rapidly being done so. What drives Xanian intergalactic conquest is a pre-emptive desire to forestall a population nightmare while also distracting many of the warring xâruks from each other, and rewarding them with living space for contributing to the conquest of new worlds. In this sense, the Xanians expand out of need rather than out of want; intergalactic travel and colonization came out of the need for living space, not out of scientific or philosophical interest. Category:Xanian Empire Category:Governments Category:Copyright